{"id":3117,"date":"2019-06-13T00:10:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T07:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-747\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T16:54:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:54:36","slug":"berberis-species-and-their-blooming-time","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/berberis-species-and-their-blooming-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Berberis species and their blooming time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A couple of questions: first, what&#8217;s the correct name these days, Mahonia or Berberis? Secondly, I&#8217;m trying to plant a succession of flowering Mahonia (or Berberis?) to attract hummingbirds to my Seattle garden. I have Mahonia X media &#8216;Charity.&#8217; In what order do various species bloom?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The current accepted name for Mahonia is <em>Berberis.<\/em> I checked several local sources to compare flowering times for different species:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatplantpicks.org\/\">Great Plant Picks<\/a> (click &#8220;Find your plant&#8221; in the upper right hand corner<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20231216113844\/http:\/\/www.paghat.com\/gardenhome.html\">Paghat&#8217;s Garden<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.arthurleej.com\/p-o-m-Aug02.html\">Arthur Lee Jacobson<\/a><\/li>\n<li><em>The Gossler Guide to the Best Hardy Shrubs<\/em> by Roger, Eric, and Marjory Gossler (Timber Press, 2009)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In approximate blooming order, here are several Berberis species:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Berberis x media<\/em> &#8216;Charity&#8217; and other cultivars (December-January)<\/li>\n<li><em>Berberis repens<\/em> (February-March)<\/li>\n<li><em>Berberis aquifolium<\/em> (as early as January but peaks March\/April, into May)<\/li>\n<li><em>Berberis bealei<\/em> (&#8220;early spring,&#8221; according to Gossler)<\/li>\n<li><em>Berberis nervosa<\/em> (May)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of questions: first, what&#8217;s the correct name these days, Mahonia or Berberis? Secondly, I&#8217;m trying to plant a succession of flowering Mahonia (or Berberis?) to attract hummingbirds to my Seattle garden. I have Mahonia X media &#8216;Charity.&#8217; In what order do various species bloom? &nbsp; The current accepted name for Mahonia is Berberis. I checked several local sources to compare flowering times for different species: Great Plant Picks (click &#8220;Find your plant&#8221; in the upper right hand corner&#8230;<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/berberis-species-and-their-blooming-time\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Berberis species and their blooming time<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[442,191],"class_list":["post-3117","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-berberis","keyword-hummingbirds"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/3117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=3117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}